PLAYSTATION EYE - Q+A

Here’s some answers from Sony to a selection of PlayStation Eye questions.

Does the new Eye differ from EyeToy much?
“It’s superior to EyeToy in nearly every way: four times the resolution, two times the frame-rate, two times the sensitivity and no compression artefacts. It has two fundamental new features: a two-setting optical zoom lens, and a built-in microphone array.”

Is the EyeToy even compatible with the PS3?
“Yes, but the picture quality is inferior to the PS Eye.”

Is the PlayStation Eye backward compatible with the PS2?
“No.”

What software comes with the camera? And what software and games will be available at launch or in the near future?
“It’s supplied with EyeCreate, which allows people to save photos, video and audio clips, as well as editing them and create truly individual movies using the different capture modes such as time-lapse and slow motion. Future software and games planned for use with the Eye will include Eye of Judgement, Ember, Skyblue and Aqua Vita, but the list will grow considerably over time.”

It sounds nice but what does ‘ability to reduce background noise and focus on the spoken word for smoother, more accurate speech recognition and transfer’ mean to a consumer?
“PS Eye’s high-quality mic array allows PS3 to analyse the audio input and separate human voices from other sounds, such as fans, traffic sounds, laundry, vacuums, etc. This makes your voice clearer on the other side during chat, and makes it easier for games with speech recognition to understand what you are saying.”

Can the PS Eye work in low light?
“It’s much more sensitive than EyeToy, to the extent that although it still works best in a well-lit room, it can produce reasonable quality video by simply using the illumination given off by the television set.”

If you compare the PlayStation Eye with a normal digital camera, how does the zoom lens compare?
“The lens on PlayStation Eye has two optical settings: normal, which is a 56 degree field of view and wide, which is a 72 degree field of view. This is similar to some point-and-shoot cameras. The normal setting is similar to EyeToy’s configuration and the addition of the wide setting is intended for full-body tracking. The user can switch the setting according to match his desired experience.”

And how does the frame rate compare to other web cams?
“It has a very fast frame rate. Most webcams max out at 30 frames/sec, but the Eye typically runs at 60 frames/sec, which makes it twice as responsive and can also run at 120 frames/sec mode for extreme high-speed tracking applications. This makes it a very unique camera.”

What format(s) do the video and audio save in?
“All video and audio files produced via the Eye are specific files created for use only on EyeCreate, the software available free with the Eye. These files cannot be used on the XMB and therefore not exported.”